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I’d argue “Covid19 New Deal” projects should heavily emphasize public infrastructure, not private technosolutionism: Broadband as public utility, green infrastructure, renewable/future-oriented energy. Writing to come on this shortly #covid19rural #cdnpoli https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-climate-clean-tech-could-take-centre-stage-in-federal-economic-2/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
This piece lays out some great questions. ‘Yes and’ - we need to invest heavily in public sector capacity, as this is where we are likely to see highest ROI & long-range impacts. This is a tremendous opportunity to re-invest & re-orient institutional investments & governance.
Let’s look to lessons from missed opportunities in 2008/2010 recessions - but also further back. Electrification Act under FDR’s New Deal brought electricity to rural US thru co-ops leveraging fed investments. Just shy of a century later, could be a model for building broadband.
Following 2008/10 recessions, if you toured anywhere in rural Canada, you would have seen *a lot* of pavement being laid. To frustration of many municipal leaders, projects were largely funded on “shovel ready” basis instead of most needed or strategic. Let’s not do that again.
